Its WAD.
The designers programmed this game so that 'Engineer' classes use the doctrinal German use of pioneers as the standard in combat resolution. Actually, the German doctrinal use of Sturm Pioneers which includes close assault of fortifications was rather unique and not standard across all armies. The Soviets didn't adopt this kind of close assault until mid 1943 with the introduction of their Assault Engineers.
I'm not satisfied with the two extremes that are offered in building these units as engineers are either sturm pioneers trained for destroying enemy fortifications or construction/labor. There needs to be a middle class called 'Combat Engineers' which fall short of conducting massive assaults but will fight in defensive situations. In the end, I chose the Engineer-Sappers to be labor squads instead of German-like assault pioneers until the Assault Engineer-Sappers show up in mid 1943.
Trey
ORIGINAL: RC01214
Most Soviet Divisions and on map Corps units have an Engineer-Sapper Squad element (0733) that is actually a labor squad. The Engineer-Sapper Battalion (1084) and Regiment (1081), along with the Mot. Engineer-Sapper Battalion (2033) off map support units are also affected by this element issue.
The Assault Engineer-Sapper Brigade is the only unit that is not affected.
Should they be the Sapper Squad (0800) or Assault Engineer-Sapper Squad (0799) elements instead, or is this intended to reflect the shortage of engineers that the USSR had during the early war?
Also, are the 41 and 43 Engineer-Sapper Brigades (1076 and 1077) supposed to be construction units or engineer units? They seem to be redundant compared to the 41 RR Construction Brigade (1087).